


a good egg

by katrinawritesthings



Category: SHINee
Genre: Angst, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-08
Updated: 2016-07-08
Packaged: 2018-10-22 00:51:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10686390
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/katrinawritesthings/pseuds/katrinawritesthings
Summary: “What’s wrong?” Taemin asks quietly. Jonghyun makes another noise, a quiet groan, an unintelligible mumble, and curls himself up even tighter in Taemin’s arms. Taemin curls with him, squeezing him just as much as he likes. “Tell me,” he whispers.tumblrtw for super self-esteem problems





	a good egg

Taemin does a double-take when he passes the doorway to the living room and glances in. Stopping in his quest to the bathroom, he frowns at the lump in the middle of the carpet in there. That’s a Jonghyun-shaped lump. Mildly worrying. He fluffs the hair at the back of his head, wondering if Jonghyun is curled up on the floor because he’s, like, dying or something, or because he’s just sad. He’s about to step in there to see if he’s okay when Jonghyun moves.

It’s not much; he stretches his legs out, reaches up to the couch for a pillow, drags it down, and hooks one knee over it with a long, heavy sigh. Taemin shakes a stray hair off of his hand as he watches Jonghyun nuzzle his face into the pillow. Well. Okay then. It’s not urgent. He continues down the hallway and into the bathroom to pee.

When he’s done, he uses a little more soap than usual so his hands smell extra nice. Wiping the excess water on his pants, he shuffles back down the hallway. This time when he reaches the living room, he turns in and walks to the lump of Jonghyun on the carpet. He’s moved again: now he’s a little ball right in the center of the room. In one smooth movement and one less smooth monster noise, Taemin drops to his knees and drapes himself over Jonghyun’s curled up body.

Jonghyun is making a whiny noise of protest before Taemin even finishes, wiggling weakly under his weight; Taemin shifts so he can spoon Jonghyun instead of just lie on top of him. He wraps his arms around Jonghyun’s shoulders, slings one leg over his hip, and nuzzles between his shoulderblades.

“What’s wrong?” he asks quietly. Jonghyun makes another noise, a quiet groan, an unintelligible mumble, and curls himself up even tighter in Taemin’s arms. Taemin curls with him, squeezing him just as much as he likes. “Tell me,” he whispers. He knows Jonghyun wants to. If Jonghyun didn’t want to talk about it, he wouldn’t have made any noise. He would have stayed quiet as he moved and Taemin would have known to not push. Jonghyun grumbles again, whines low in his throat, puffs himself up with a big breath of air that Taemin can feel filling him up and then leaving him empty. It’s then that Jonghyun’s mumbles turn into actual words.

“Mmmmgh… ‘m gross,” he squeaks. “Gross and… gross and useless and ugly and… mmmh gross.” He squeezes his pillow so hard that Taemin can hear the fabric stuttering against his fingers. He sighs as Jonghyun starts up with tiny little sniffles.

“You’re not gross,” he says against the back of Jonghyun’s neck. “Not ugly, not useless.” Jonghyun whines again, a high noise as he shakes his head minutely. It’s muffled into the pillow and Taemin squeezes him gently.

“Gross,” Jonghyun repeats. “I’m… a lump. A gross useless ugly. An egg.”

“You’re not gross,” Taemin repeats firmly. “Or useless. Or ugly. And if you’re an egg, then you’re a cute one.” He presses the tiniest kiss to Jonghyun’s skin. Jonghyun whines again, though, shifting away from him. He scoffs lightly.

“How can an egg be cute,” he mumbles. Taemin smiles, a tiny one, pressing close again to brush it against Jonghyun’s neck.

“By looking like you,” he says.

“Ooohhhhh.” Jonghyun’s reply is drawn out, louder than the rest, ended by a sharp breath. He wiggles fully away from Taemin this time, and rolls over the carpet until he reaches the couch and can’t roll anymore. He faces it, presses himself against it and makes more whiny noises in his throat. Taemin can see that the back of his neck is a deep red and he slides himself over the carpet to wrap himself back around Jonghyun again.

“You’re sweet,” he says. He nuzzles up to speak against the back of Jonghyun’s head, right behind his ear. “Caring. Gentle. Thoughtful. Gorgeous. Clever. Hardworking. Selfless. Kind. Humble. Usually.” He murmurs all these compliments, all these truths, as they come to him. They flow like water from his brain to his mouth, each new one reminding Taemin of another good quality that Jonghyun has. “Powerful,” he whispers. “Protective. Accepting. Understanding. Inspiring. Admirable. Pretty. Handsome. Suave. Charming. Witt--”

“Tae,” Jonghyun whispers, voice small and broken. A hand bumps his nose and Taemin leans back to see Jonghyun covering his ears. “Stop,” Jonghyun tells him. He sniffles, shakes out tiny breathes, presses himself even more against the couch. Taemin sighs, resting his forehead between Jonghyun’s shoulderblades. He lifts his hand to take Jonghyun’s away from his ear, but he doesn’t say anything. He just laces their fingers together and rubs his thumb over the back of Jonghyun’s hand soothingly.

He doesn’t know how much time passes like that; with Jonghyun badly muffling his tears and sobs into the carpet and Taemin behind him, aching to comfort him but keeping his mouth closed. It has to be at least twenty minutes. He presses small kisses to Jonghyun’s neck and shirt throughout it all. Mostly they’re for himself than Jonghyun. He calms himself through the comfort of kisses, the tiny pecks, the gentle satisfaction they bring. Jonghyun knows this and Taemin is pretty sure that’s the only reason he’s letting him do it.

After a while, Jonghyun’s pathetic little noises die down. He sniffles thickly, swallows loudly, breathes deeply through his mouth. Taemin can feel him struggling to calm his breathing: the shake at the end of his long inhales, the occasional sudden exhale with a shudder. Once he’s sure Jonghyun is okay enough for it, he squeezes his hand gently.

“Are you hungry?” he asks quietly. Jonghyun takes a moment to answer. Taemin waits patiently. Eventually, he gets a tiny shake of the head, a half whispered “Mm-mm.” He sighs shortly and squeezes Jonghyun’s waist. “If I make food will you eat something?” he asks. This time he gets a slow shrug of the shoulders insead. He breathes deeply again. “What if it takes half an hour or so?” He can make something fancyish to give Jonghyun’s appetite time to grow. Jonghyun hesitates for a second; then he nods slowly.

“Maybe,” he whispers. Maybe. Okay. Taemin squeezes him one last time, kisses the back of his neck, and stands up. If the maybe turns out to be a no they can just save the leftovers for later.

In the kitchen, after he’s been in there for a while, and while he’s standing blearily over the stove and stirring some onions around for french onion soup, he feels a pair of arms sliding around his waist. He turns his head to look just in time to see red-rimmed eyes and a tiny frown before Jonghyun is nuzzling between his shoulderblades. He covers one of Jonghyun’s hands with his free one and continues his cooking.


End file.
